Anaerobic Digesters: Turning Food Waste into Energy

“Cowpower” is a viable energy source here in Vermont, where dairy farms capture methane—a powerful greenhouse gas—from decomposing waste and use it as fuel. It may sound quirky, but it works. Landfills and municipal water-treatment facilities also use this “anaerobic digestion” (AD) process to generate energy and reduce solid waste.

AD works well at these large scales but usually doesn’t work at the building scale. Impact Bioenergy is betting that it can, and now offers two models for restaurants or other applications that generate food waste.